Another View: Respect the families' wishes at 9/11 ceremony

USA Today

For the past nine years, mourners have gathered annually at or near ground zero to remember those who died there in the 9/11 attacks. The simple, solemn program consists largely of family members reading the nearly 3,000 names of the dead, punctuated by four moments of silence to mark the moments when the hijacked airliners hit the two World Trade Center towers, and when the towers collapsed. During the pauses, bells toll at houses of worship throughout the city.

It is a moving way to honor those who woke up that morning never suspecting they wouldn't live out the day. This year, on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, organizers will add the names of those who died at Shanksville, Pa., and the Pentagon, and pause twice more at the moments the planes struck. President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush will attend, but there will be no political speeches, only short readings in addition to the names.

This seems entirely appropriate, but maybe because this is the 10th anniversary, the ceremony will get more than the usual amount of attention. And maybe because these days little can happen without a fight, a bitter controversy has erupted over the fact that there is no organized prayer during the ceremony.

People will surely pray during the moments of silence, but no clergy will lead prayers or give benedictions. Despite loud demands from a few New York politicians, pundits, bloggers and national conservative groups, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has refused to change the way the ceremony has been carried out for the past nine years to give speaking roles to spiritual leaders.

He's right.

Certainly, organized prayer at a remembrance ceremony such as this one would be nothing out of the ordinary.

But that is not the issue.

City officials have worked for years with the families to design a way to pay tribute to those who died on 9/11, and this format is what they devised. Surely, some family members agree with critics that prayer should be part of the ceremony, but organized protest by family groups is conspicuously absent among the loud voices demanding prayer. The Families of September 11, a key group for those whose relatives died that day, had no comment when asked whether it wanted a change. Frankly, if the families are OK with the ceremony, what right does anyone else have to tell them how to honor their loved ones?

The other compelling reason for keeping a format that has worked so well is to avoid a needless controversy at a solemn moment. Those who planned the memorial worried that if they invited clergy of all faiths, including imams to honor Muslims who died in the Trade Center, they would risk provoking the sort of ugly protest that erupted last year over plans to build a Muslim community center two blocks from ground zero. ...

There will be many religious-themed remembrances on 9/11 -- at New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral and at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to cite just two. Many other ceremonies will have a religious component.

This is how the day has been commemorated for nine years, so long that the ceremony at ground zero is now a tradition -- emotional, respectful, inspiring and, until now, noncontroversial. That's how it should remain.

USA Today

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Another View: Respect the families' wishes at 9/11 ceremony

USA TodayFor the past nine years, mourners have gathered annually at or near ground zero to remember those who died there in the 9/11 attacks. The simple, solemn program consists largely of family